Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

South Africa’s police minister has promised to put a stop to the brazen cash-in-transit heists across the country.

Bheki Cele also said curbing political violence in KwaZulu Natal and gang violence in the Western Cape were also part of his new strategy.

He said:

Mr Cele also said the public should be the eyes and ears on the ground.

Technology was going to play a bigger role in combating crime, he added.

Johan Burger, a senior researcher from the Institute for Security Studies, welcomed the move,saying it should be an integrated approach with regular feedback from the police chief.

He added:

National Geographic has posted a video on its Facebook page , externalshowing a team of wardens in Mikembo conservation sanctuary in southern Democratic Republic of Congo helping a giraffe with a wire wrapped dangerously around its neck

It was quite an operation, involving a rope, a group of nine men, a tranquilliser and a piece of cloth big enough to cover the giraffe's eyes.

Watch their the rescue below:

Protesters in Uganda have dropped an empty coffin outside parliament to highlight what they say is inaction by the authorities over the rising number of kidnappings and murders of women, privately owned Daily Monitor has tweeted.

It is not clear if they entered the parliament grounds.

The police say there have been more than 40 reported kidnappings this year and most victims are women.

In one recent case a family in central Uganda was told to pay around $1,000 (£747) for the release of a daughter.

Relatives only managed to raise $300 and the kidnappers killed her.

The police say they have set up a new call centre to deal with the issue, but they say many of the cases are hoaxes as people stage-manage their owns kidnaps in order to get ransom money.

In September last year, the BBC spoke to the family of one woman who was killed:

Image source, Getty Images

Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah has been named in Egypt's World Cup squad despite being injured in the Champions League final, BBC Sport is reporting.

Salah, 25, will not meet up with his teammates until 9 June as he continues his recovery from a shoulder injury, his national team said.

Egypt's opening World Cup fixture is against Uruguay on 15 June.

They meet hosts Russia on 19 June and conclude their campaign in Group A against Saudi Arabia on 25 June.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Nigerian football star Nwankwo Kanu had $11,000 (£8,000) stolen from his bag over the weekend while travelling from Russia's Sheremetyevo airport in the capital, Moscow, to the province of Kaliningrad along the Baltic coast, The Moscow Times reports., external

The Nigerian, 41, was on his way to take part in a Fifa Legends game on Sunday ahead of the World Cup tournament, which kicks off on 14 June.

Kaliningrad is one of 11 Russian cities that will host matches.

Russia's interior ministry said two baggage handlers had been detained after Kanu discovered the money missing after arriving in Kaliningrad.

“Two handlers who unloaded baggage from the London-to-Moscow flight and stole the money from the passenger’s luggage have been identified and detained,” the ministry said in an online statement.

Former students from Moi Girls High School in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, are holding a protest outside the school's gate amidst reports that one of the students was raped in an attack on Saturday.

Students say three men entered the girls' hostel and sexually assaulted one of the girls while two others managed to escape.

Some of the protesters are wearing the school's uniform, others are holding placards.

One of the protesters pretended to be a pregnant woman, singing in Swahili, "The child I gave birth to has no rights."

A local TV station has shared video of the protest:

The BBC's Mercy Juma snapped these pictures of the protesters:

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Madagascar's Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly has resigned in an effort to solve a political crisis ahead of elections due later this year.

Last month, the Constitutional Court ordered the president to form a new government with a prime minister supported by all political parties.

That has still not happened but the resignation of the prime minister is being seen as a positive step.

Last week the defence minister said if a solution could not be found, the military would intervene.

There has been growing concern that there is a risk of a repeat of the 2009 political crisis that badly damaged Madagascar's economy.

Since gaining independence from France in 1960, the Indian Ocean nation has experienced repeated political instability, including coups, violent unrest and disputed elections.

Image source, AFP

Police in Nigeria have summoned Senate President Bukola Saraki to come in for questioning over bank robberies in Offa in Kwara state in April.

Thirty-three people were killed in Offa, including nine policemen, when six banks were targeted.

Police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood said Mr Saraki has been invited for questioning after arrested suspects said that the senate president and the state's governor had sponsored them.

They had given them firearms, money and operational vehicles, This Day newspaper reports, external.

“The five gang leaders… confessed and volunteered statements that they were political thugs of … Bukola Saraki and the executive governor of Kwara state Abdulfatah Ahmed.”

It is not clear when Mr Saraki will come in for questioning. He has denied having links with the suspects, saying it is a campaign to smear his image.

Mr Ahmed has denied the accusations, The Vanguard newspaper reports, external.

Image source, AFP

A teacher at Moi Girls High school in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, is to undergo DNA testing as part of police investigations over an alleged rape of a student on Saturday night that has the shocked the nation, privately owned Daily Nation reports. , external

It does not say if the police have applied for a court order for the DNA test to be done.

The paper reports that the 15-year-old victim was attacked at a hostel in the boarding school at 02:00 local time and that two other students were also physically assaulted.

Other students say they sought help from the matron, knocking on her door several times -but she did not respond until three hours later, the paper says.

When she eventually emerged the matron gave the girl, who was described as "bleeding and looking weak and too traumatised to talk", first aid and then called for transport to take her to hospital.

The Daily Nation quotes a student as saying:

“Three men entered the cubicle shared by four girls. One girl managed to escape unhurt. The men then attempted to rape two other girls but they escaped, although they were beaten. One attacker managed to rape one of the girls."

Students told the paper that teachers dismissed the rape claim and asked the girls to be calm and "not make up " stories.

Other pupils said the victim had been offered a scholarship in exchange of her silence on the incident.

The school, which has not officially commented on the incident, has since been closed for a week and students sent at home.

Eight months ago a fire in a dormitory at the same school killed nine students after a suspected arson attack by a group of students.

Image source, AFP

Police in Mozambique say they have killed nine insurgents following the recent beheading of 10 people.

The suspects were shot dead in a dense bush near the northern villages where the decapitations took place.

Another person was beheaded the day before the insurgents were killed.

An Islamist group, known locally as al-Shabab or al-Sunna, has carried out a number of attacks in northern Mozambique in recent months.

The authorities say more than 300 people suspected of having links to the group have been arrested since October last year.

• Read more: How Mozambique’s smuggling barons nurtured jihadists

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